Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Management activities
To ensure that the supply chain is operating as efficient as possible and generating the highest level of customer satisfaction at the lowest cost, companies have adopted Supply Chain Management processes and associated technology.
Supply Chain Management has three levels of activities that different parts of the company will focus on: strategic, tactical and operational.
The diagram is an illustration of how the boundries between strategic, tactical and operational roles relate to the levels within your hierarchies. The smaller the organisation, the more the boundries merge. In this retail example, the decision making and responsibilities are mapped to the levels within the product and calendar hierarchies.
There are a number of challenges in managing a supply chain across numerous organizations. These include conflicting objectives, mismatched communication systems, differences in organizational culture and national culture, competitive pressures, lack of trust, and government regulations.
Despite these challenges, companies have seen a huge return on investments in broadening their focus to the entire supply chain rather than limiting it simply to operations within their firm. One of the primary reasons that supply chain management has increased recently is the improved capabilities of computers and information technology to facilitate information sharing and cooperation among numerous organizations.